Staten Island Elected Officials Call for Halt to Proposed Battery Storage Facility At 1963 Victory Boulevard Over Environmental Concerns
Sign a petition against construction of the facility on change.org
Editor’s note: We’ve most recently covered the issues related to an under-construction battery storage facility at a site in Queens, where the developer was ordered to stop working but continued and a worker on the site allegedly assaulted a member on the council staff. Another Staten Island site planned for the Travis neighborhood was withdrawn due to community pressure.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y — NYS Assemblyman Sam Pirozzolo, Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, NY State Senator Andrew Lanza, and New York City Council Minority Leader David Carr have sent a letter to the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and NYS Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES) calling for development and construction of a proposed lithium ion battery energy storage facility at 1963 Victory Boulevard to be halted until the project can be redesigned to eliminate potential threats to public safety and the surrounding environment.
Plans reported for the Westerleigh property call for a roughly 10,000 square foot facility containing 4 lithium-ion battery megapacks. The site is located near homes and a strip of local businesses. An active tributary also runs directly through the property, which has experienced persistent flooding during periods of heavy rain.
The stream crossing the property is connected to Palmer’s Run, which is part of an underground stream system that surfaces near Richmond Terrace and Rector Street before emptying into the Kill Van Kull. DEC already monitors Palmer’s Run in connection with nearby State Superfund and Brownfield cleanup sites, including the former Charlton Cleaners facility at the Forest Avenue Shoppers Town Shopping Center.
The officials raised concerns that a fire at the proposed facility could release hydrogen fluoride and other toxic gases into the surrounding community. The letter cites scientific research regarding fluoride gas emissions from lithium-ion battery fires, as well as information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about the serious health effects associated with hydrogen fluoride exposure.
The letter also focuses on the potential environmental effects of water used to control a battery fire. This includes noting that firefighting water could enter the stream running through the property, the surrounding drainage system, and the City sewer system. Academic studies cited by the delegation found that runoff from lithium ion battery fires can contain PFAS chemicals, heavy metals, fluorides, and corrosive substances that may threaten surface water, groundwater, wildlife, and local ecosystems.
The Staten Island elected officials are asking the responsible state and city regulatory agencies to contact the project’s developers and order that development and construction activity be canceled until a new design is presented that eliminates the serious identified fire, runoff, water contamination, and public safety hazards.
A full copy of the letter can be found below:
Amanda Lefton
Commissioner
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233
Amanda.Lefton@dec.ny.gov
James B. Cable
State Fire Administrator
New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control
1220 Washington Avenue
Building 7A, Floor 2
Albany, NY 12226
James.Cable@dhses.ny.gov
Antonia Pereira
Regional Director
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Region 2
One Hunters Point Plaza
47-40 21st Street
Long Island City, NY 11101
Antonia.Pereira@dec.ny.gov
Lisa F. Garcia
Commissioner
New York City Department of Environmental Protection
59-17 Junction Boulevard, 19th Floor
Flushing, NY 11373
lgarcia@dep.nyc.gov
Dear Commissioners Lefton and Garcia, Administrator Cable, and Regional Director Pereira, We are writing to you today out of great concern with the potential danger to my constituents and all Staten Island residents posed by the proposed Lithium-Ion Storage Battery Facility at 1963 Victory Boulevard, Staten Island, New York 10314. We are also concerned that such a facility presents an illegal hazard to the stream running through the property and the water bodies into which it drains.
The stream crossing this property is connected to Palmer’s Run, the end of an underground stream system that daylights near Richmond Terrace and Rector Street and empties into the Kill Van Kull. As you may already know, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation already monitors Palmer’s Run in connection with State Superfund and Brownfield cleanup sites, such as the Former Charlton Cleaners Facility, Site Code 243019, located at the Forest Avenue Shoppers Town Shopping Center.
Regarding the hazards and dangers to human life, it is well established by several peer-reviewed studies that a lithium-ion fire at a battery facility of this size can potentially emit large amounts of hydrogen fluoride, ranging between 20 and 200 mg/Wh of nominal battery energy capacity. In addition, 15 to 22 mg/Wh of another potentially toxic gas, phosphoryl fluoride, was measured in some of the fire tests. Gas emissions when using water mist as an extinguishing agent were also investigated. Fluoride gas emissions can pose a serious toxic threat, and the results are crucial findings for risk assessment and management, especially for large lithium-ion battery packs. (1) Indeed, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, when breathed in, hydrogen fluoride gas, even at low levels, can irritate the eyes and respiratory tract, including the mouth, throat, lungs, and nose. Breathing in hydrogen fluoride at high levels can cause death from an irregular heartbeat or from fluid buildup in the lungs. (2) We are also concerned about the long-term negative impacts of a lithium-ion fire at the proposed location, since the runoff resulting from water used to fight such a fire can enter the stream running across the property as well as the City sewer system. In New York State, firefighting runoff rules are strictly enforced by your agency in tandem with the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control.
New York State has aggressive laws, codified under General Business Law § 391-u, designed to stop toxic runoff before it starts, including restrictions on Class B firefighting foams containing PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, due to their severe impact on drinking water and ecosystems. Obviously, if PFAS-containing firefighting foam is banned, then we should not allow any facility to be built that can emit PFAS chemicals into our waters during a fire.
Several academic studies point to the environmental impacts of the runoff created from fighting lithium-ion fires. PFAS chemicals exhibited extreme persistence, bioaccumulation, and resistance to traditional wastewater treatment, impacting aquatic food webs and groundwater and drinking water. Heavy metal emissions, including nickel, cobalt, manganese, and lithium, presented high acute aquatic toxicity. Concentrations regularly exceeded surface water safety guidelines and impacted fish, macroinvertebrates, and local biodiversity. The emissions of fluorides and corrosives caused localized chemical burning and alteration of water pH, microorganisms, and aquatic flora. (3)(4)
If the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Office of Fire Prevention and Control have already banned firefighting substances containing PFAS chemicals, how could they possibly allow a lithium-ion battery facility that directly threatens to impact our water bodies with PFAS?
Referencing these known hazards to human life and to our environment on Staten Island, We are requesting that your agencies contact the developers of the lithium-ion battery site proposed for 1963 Victory Boulevard and order that all development and construction activity be canceled until the developers can propose a new design for their facility in which all aforementioned hazards will be eliminated.
Sincerely,
Map of planned site on Victory Blvd. Image Credit – Westerleigh Improvement Society
Banner Image: Map of planned site on Victory Blvd. Image Credit – Westerleigh Improvement Society
Assemlymember Sam Pirozzolo
Sam Pirozzolo is a native Staten Islander. He is a frequent contributor to the Staten Islander, and is well-known and loved by people on both the Right and Left, in his North Shore community. Sam brings people together, instead of dividing, by speaking common sense and analyzing our island's, and city's, issues, with intelligence and concern for all. Sam Pirozzolo was elected to the New York State Assembly on November 8, 2022. The 63rd Assembly District represents parts of Richmond County. Sam has successfully operated his family’s optical practice for 33 years. He is the past president of Community Education Council 31 where he served for seven years. Some of his most notable accomplishments include the creation of a Gifted and Talented program for middle school students, the recommendation for the NYC Department of Education to hire retired police officers as school resource officers, and the successful fight for the immediate cleanup of toxic PCBs leaking from the light fixtures in school classrooms. As an education advocate, Sam has participated in historic litigation that led to the return of more than $4 billion to New York public schools. He also fought to ensure that co-located charter schools receive the same capital funding as their host public schools. While serving in the Legislature, Sam will work to support law enforcement officers with proper funding, fix broken bail and parole policies, and help small businesses grow and thrive in a stronger, more resilient economy.